HTC Q1 2016: fourth consecutive quarter with a loss. declining revenues also in April

* HTC has confirmed today its financial results for the first quarter of 2016 (January, February, March) and the picture becomes negative again, with sales down 64% year on year and an operating loss of 4.8 billion Taiwanese dollars that returns to growth after the partial recovery of Q4 2015. This is the fourth consecutive quarter closed with a loss by the Taiwanese manufacturer that has just started the commercialization of the new smartphone HTC top 10 range and started distributing the viewer Virtual reality HTC Vive.

Useful elements to address the following quarters, but at the time, the negative trend does not change compared to the past few months. Slight signs of improvement on a monthly basis regarding the turnover in April, as demonstrated by the sales figures released today. In last month's turnover amounted to 5.75 billion Taiwanese dollars, a figure that translates into a decrease of 57.53% on an annual basis, compared to the month of March, the turnover grew by 38.78%, but will to be evaluated in the following months if it is a temporary increase or a stable trend.

The numbers and the trends are in themselves eloquent and the analysis made by HTC in the margins of the financial results do not change the substance. The company emphasizes the positive reception given to the viewer lives during the first quarter of 2016; the distribution of the consumer version, however, only started in April, a fact which did not allow the Lives of leaving traces in the financial statements for the quarter in question. The manufacturer also refers to Desire smartphones and HTC One X9 calling appreciated products in the first quarter of 2016, although this appreciation, unfortunately, has not translated into sales likely to grow revenue and profits.

For completeness, it is noted that the total assets, while reduced compared to the first quarter of 2015 (currently standing at 119.2 billion Taiwanese dollars, of which 41.7 billion cash) are not likely to jeopardize the continuation of the activity 'business as you might think superficially observing only turnover and losses of the past four quarters, but it is patently obvious that the HTC serves a decisive change of course to get back to being competitive in the industry that has allowed it to ask the attention of the general public, namely that of smartphones. The Taiwanese company disclose it plans a further streamlining business processes and optimization of resources in order to improve efficiency.

A few days ago the company has confirmed the formation of a new company that will develop "new technologies", a word that, according to rumors spread by the media in Taiwan, could lead to the unbundling of activities relating to the emerging business of Virtual Reality by entrusting an independent company led by Cher Wang, the current President of HTC. If the hypothesis were to occur, the scenario for HTC could get much more complicated, since the company would remain principally the management of the traditional business of smartphones carried out in a saturated market, with room for growth mainly in emerging markets, and in which the company has been losing ground.

* This is the audited financial statements for the first quarter 2016, whose data Unaudited were anticipated by HTC in recent weeks.